jesse_the_k: text: Be kinder than need be: everyone is fighting some kind of battle (Default)

Paraplegic Character Stars in Game: Getting Over It with Bennett Foddy

Yes, the developer's name is in the game, because he chats with you as you play.

http://www.foddy.net/2017/09/getting-over-it/

Why I'm posting it here: This game's character has the capabilities of a very strong paraplegic. It's a man sitting in an round-bottom iron cooking pot, climbing a treacherous landscape using only his upper body and the levering power of a very long sledgehammer. The game provides infinite opportunities to get it wrong, and you can't save your progress.

I'm not a gamer, so I may have been looking in the wrong place, but as far as I can tell nobody is talking about this disability angle.

Captioned game trailer for Steam )

Mad Max game and disability

Tariq Moosa at Polygon: Your Body isn't your World: The Heroes of Mad Max and disability

About the Mad Max video game and franchise.

Playing as Max, experiencing characters with disabilities, is a reminder that we can and should create worlds that treat respectfully those so often forgotten - if games want to be more inclusive. It makes us feel welcome, it makes our enjoyment that much more personal: I have little doubt this feeling of empowerment has shaped my perception of what many consider a mediocre game.
jesse_the_k: Head inside a box, with words "Thinking inside the box" scrawled on it. (thinking inside the box)

[link] Accessible Video Games: a Legal Approach vs Individual Advocacy

Video Game Accessibility: A Legal Approach
George Powers, Vinh Nguyen, Lex Frieden

The authors all work at the Southwestern (U.S.) ADA Tech Assistance Center, so they're familiar with the law and its limitations. They believe a legal approach would result in more, lasting access.

Video game accessibility may not seem of significance to some, and it may sound trivial to anyone who does not play video games. This assumption is false. With the digitalization of our culture, video games are an ever increasing part of our life. They contribute to peer to peer interactions, education, music and the arts. A video game can be created by hundreds of musicians and artists, and they can have production budgets that exceed modern blockbuster films. Inaccessible video games are analogous to movie theaters without closed captioning or accessible facilities. The movement to have accessible video games is small, unorganized and misdirected. Just like the other battles to make society accessible were accomplished through legislation and law, the battle for video game accessibility must be focused toward the law and not the market.

Full article in Disability Studies Quarterly
http://dsq-sds.org/article/view/4513/3833

Accessibility Jam for video games

Rock, Paper, Shotgun: Accessibility Jam

The Accessibility Jam wants to give “developers knowledge and experience of how to make mainstream video games accessible to gamers with disabilities, to provide good examples of what’s possible, and move accessibility towards being widely accepted good practice in the game design process.” The jam begins in a little over 5 days and you should take part or pay attention.

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May 15th is Global Accessibility Awarness Day aimed at digital accessibility.
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Ableism in RPG gameplay

Jonathan Lavallee at Geek Feminism: Ableism in RPG gameplay

Thanks to [personal profile] j00j for this link.
sqbr: "Creative genius" with an arrow pointing to a sketch of me (genius!)
[personal profile] sqbr2013-12-02 01:55 pm

Accessibility check on Twine Game

Hi! I decided to try making a Twine (text based html) version of my most recent visual novel since visual novels aren't very accessible, and want to make sure it actually is more accessible.

So! I would love feedback from people with screenreaders/colour issues/other visual issues that make using visual novels difficult on this game, "SOON". ("SOON" is the name of the game, you don't actually have to be super fast)

I'm still bug fixing, so you may or may not be able to actually finish the game, but just looking at a page or two is enough, and no download is required. Letting me know about bugs would also be great but I'll track them down myself eventually :)

I didn't mess with the default fonts/colours etc, on the assumption that anyone with specific needs will probably have custom css. Is that a reasonable assumption?

By the way, the game's protagonist is disabled themselves, and there's a little snark about accessibility in there amongst all the time travel :) Also, making a Twine version of a Renpy game turned out to be a pain and a half so I don't know if I'll do it again.
sqbr: "Creative genius" with an arrow pointing to a sketch of me (genius!)
[personal profile] sqbr2013-09-13 08:27 pm

Best approach to accessible versions of Visual Novels

I make the odd visual novel (both original and fannish): interactive games told through text and static images (mostly of sprites with varying expressions). Some use sound but mine don't. As an example, here's a fan game I made for Mass Effect.

It bothers me how inaccessible my Visual Novels are given that the story is mostly told via text. The creator of Renpy (the language I and many VN creators use) has said he would add text reader support if he could but it's not practical.

So I was wondering: if you are someone who finds visual novels innaccessible but would otherwise be interested in playing them, what would be your preferred approach to an accessible version of the story?
Read more... )
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1 link 12 Sept 2013

They're Mad I Tell You: the Portrayal of Mental Illness in Video Games by Sarah Nixon.

This post discusses horror games that feature asylums; it has one disturbing image.

The noticeable lack of realistic, appropriate, and approved characters with mental illness as well as the frequency in which the crazed enemy trope is used points to the severity and widespread control this malicious representation has in gaming.